Overview
Customers in regulated environments may need to ensure that the name value associated with their recipients remains consistent throughout the agreement lifecycle. This can become problematic when a name value is provided and that name changes during the signature process.
For example, a sender can include a recipient that is also an Acrobat Sign user in their account. Including an internal recipient provides a profile that is known to the Acrobat Sign system, and at the time the agreement is sent, the user's profile name is imported to the audit records and Manage page.
When the internal recipient opens the agreement, their profile name is prefilled into the signature field. If the signer does nothing, their name is used as the signature, and the audit report is generated with their internally defined name. However, the signer can change their name within the signature block. If they do so, the new name value is used from that point on throughout the audit report and on the Manage page.
If a customer is examining the interim audit report to establish system compliance, the change from the interim to the final audit report may be seen as non-compliant.
To overcome this, admins can configure their account or groups to prompt the sender to include a name value for each recipient as part of the agreement configuration process. The name value can be defined as either mandatory or not, depending on the document's requirements.
This feature only applies to agreements and web forms created through the Acrobat Sign web application.
When enabled, all recipients have the recipient name field available. When the name is mandatory, all recipients must have a name value provided.
If a name value is provided by the sender, the name is presented as a read-only field during the signature process, and the recipient may not alter it.
Only recipients are impacted. CC'd parties do not require a name-value to be included.
Supported functions
Updating the recipient's name
The original sender of an agreement can change the name value of a recipient by opening the agreement in their Manage page, selecting the recipient, and clicking the Edit link:
The audit report indicates the name change as a replaced signer with the same email value:
The option to edit the recipient's name is only available until the first recipient applies their signature. After the first recipient has completed their activities on the agreement, all name values become immutable.
Replacing the recipient
Replacing the current recipient follows the same process, with the only exception being that a name value is required when the new recipient is added:
The audit report indicates the replaced signer with new name and email values:
The recipient of an agreement can delegate their agreement authority by either clicking the delegate link in the "Review and sign" email, or through the Delegate signing to another option on the signing page:
The audit report indicates the replaced signer with new name and email values:
Current limitations
Custom workflows currently do not support requiring the name when a recipient is pre-defined.
Adding authentication that does require a name-value (e.g. Knowledge-based authentication) can still be used:
Recipient groups
Recipient groups do not require that the name-value be included for each recipient in the group:
Configuring web forms
When Require recipient name on Send is enabled, web form configuration also allows for a name-value for any defined counter-signers:
The recipient experience
The recipient experience is not dramatically different when the required name value is applied. The practical differences are:
- Typed signatures automatically populate the name-value as defined and cannot be edited.
- Drawn/Image signatures present the name field in a read-only state.
The name-value associated with the audit report (and other surfaces where the name is exposed) is separate from the signature image. Because of this, Drawn (including Mobile) and Image signatures may display a different image of the name string than the name-value that is referenced throughout the document and auditing trail.
Configuration
Availability:
Require recipient name is available for enterprise license plans.
Configuration scope:
The feature can be enabled at the account and group levels.
The controls for this feature can be assessed by navigating to Send Settings > Require recipient name when sending from Adobe Acrobat Sign web application.
The configurable options are:
The setting to require recipient names is embedded into the transaction when the agreement is sent. Changing the setting takes effect immediately for newly created agreements, but does not impact previously sent agreements.
When Require recipient name is enabled, the Send page is modified to include an additional section in the recipient record to provide the name value:
When the recipient name value is enabled as mandatory, an asterisk is applied next to the field tag to identify it as a required field.
If the user attempts to send the agreement without the name value being provided, the field highlights with a red frame and an error notice is displayed at the top of the window:
When the feature is disabled, the recipient record does not provide a field for the recipient's name:
Related settings
Signers can change their name or initials
Enabling Signers can change their name or initials allows the recipient to change their name at the time they apply their signature.
If this setting is disabled, then the name value provided by the sender is read-only for the signer.
If a recipient changes their name value from the sender's provided value, an explicit record is logged in the audit report to reflect that change:
Authentication methods that lock the name value
In the Send Settings menu, there are authentication methods with sub-settings requiring a signer name on the Send page (e.g. Knowledge-based authentication).
When these settings are enabled in conjunction with the Require recipient name on Send setting, the name added on the recipient record is automatically imported to the authentication name fields.
If the name value is changed in the authentication method, the name values in the recipient record are updated to match. There is no method to have different values in these two interfaces.
Users that are known to the account (existing Acrobat Sign users in a trusted account) may display a name value on the Manage page that is different than the name entered by the sender.
This is because the name used on the Manage page is pulled from the user's profile value when building the table of agreements. This behavior will be corrected to ensure the name used reflects the name entered by the sender in a future patch.
Given: Required recipient name is enabled for the sending account.
When an agreement is sent to a user email address that is registered to a user in the Acrobat System, the recipient's profile name is used in the audit report for Reminder events (instead of the provided recipient name).